In 2019, Emilia Clarke revealed that she had suffered from two life-threatening brain hemorrhages as a result of two different brain aneurysms that burst. The first one happened in 2011, in between filming the first and second season of Game of Thrones. Emilia was 24-years-old when the first aneurysm burst, and doctors were able to seal it off using a minimally invasive technique in which they entered a wire through femoral arteries in her groin. It was a difficult recovery but Emilia eventually left the ICU and hospital, and was back on the GOT set just weeks after she was discharged. The second aneurysm burst while she was on the operating table to have it removed in 2013. This was after they finished filming GOT season three, and it was much more serious. She needed another surgery, this time with doctors entering directly through her skull to repair the hemorrhage with titanium. Emilia spent another month in the hospital, working hard to recover while at times, suffering from “terrible anxiety” and hopelessness.
Because both incidents happened in between seasons, Emilia didn’t tell many people about what happened. Five years ago, she and her mother founded SameYou, a “brain injury recovery charity.” SameYou just partnered with a recruitment agency, Big Issue Recruit, which specializes in helping individuals who face “barriers” to finding work. To promote the partnership, Emilia gave an interview in this week’s Big Issue to talk about the challenges she faced in returning to work on the GOT set. She shared that her insecurities “quadruple[d] overnight” and that she was afraid that she’d be fired or even suffer another brain hemorrhage in front of everyone on set.
Emilia Clarke has spoken exclusively to the Big Issue about the incredible strength it took to survive and recover after two brain injuries. Clarke suffered two life-threatening brain haemorrhages while starring as Daenerys Targaryen in HBO series Game of Thrones.
She has been interviewed in this week’s Big Issue, out today (10 June), about the difficulties of returning to work after experiencing a brain injury.
“When you have a brain injury, because it alters your sense of self on such a dramatic level, all of the insecurities you have going into the workplace quadruple overnight,” Clarke told the Big Issue. “The first fear we all had was: ‘Oh my God, am I going to get fired? Am I going to get fired because they think I’m not capable of completing the job?’”
Clarke’s brain haemorrhages occurred between filming seasons, so only a handful of the team working on the show were told straight away, and she was back at work weeks after her first brain injury.
In front of thousands of people and cameras, she found herself fearing that she was dying of another brain haemorrhage because of the stress and pressure. She remembers thinking: “Well, if I’m going to die, I better die on live TV.”
Emilia Clarke and her mother founded their charity SameYou in 2019 to develop better mental health recovery for those who suffer brain injuries and advocate for change. The charity is now partnering with Big Issue Recruit to support survivors and their loved ones into work with the help of BIR specialist job coaches.
“Having a chronic condition that diminishes your confidence in this one thing you feel is your reason to live is so debilitating and so lonely,” Clarke, 37, recalls. “One of the biggest things I felt with a brain injury was profoundly alone. That is what we’re trying to overcome.”
In the interview, Clarke speaks candidly about how she felt she “couldn’t carry on” after a brain injury and how she asked medical staff to let her die, because she thought she would never act again. But she thrived since, and she knows others can too, saying: “It has given me a superpower.”
When Emilia’s essay came out revealing what happened, I remember being so impressed with her honesty and positive attitude. I remain impressed by the work she continues to do through SameYou. What she went through was so scary and she turned around and created something great out of it. I love that she identifies problem areas that people with brain injuries face and works with organizations to address them. It sucks that she had to be scared of losing her job after experiencing medical trauma, but that’s a totally valid fear. So many people aren’t so lucky, which is why it’s awesome that SameYou is working with a company that specializes in post-brain injury employment. This is absolutely an example of a celebrity using their power for good. If you want to learn more about SameYou, you can visit their website. There’s a list of other organizations they work with and they spotlight survivors, resources for those who need help, ways to get involved, orgs that have put out a call for help, and more.
Photos via Instagram and credit: PA Images/INSTARimages, Stephen Lock / Avalon
Brave!
I stan her – she’s such a lovely person. She’s a decent enough actress who got shafted on GoT as they did her character dirty by rushing the descent into madness towards the end.
How incredibly scary that must have been.
A friend of mine who has a small brain tumor said it’s really as strange thing to deal with. Like if you have an issue with something on you leg or you hand or even your stomach, it’s in you, it’s part of your body, but you can kind of detach it from *you*, you can see it and touch it which lets you kind of put it ‘over there’, part of you but something ‘other’ on you or in you. But for them having this thing that’s kind of dangerous, could be deadly, maybe suddenly, randomly … right in their own head, not somewhere slightly removed from their core personhood, seat of consciousness is so different and unsettling. Like “the call is coming from inside the house” unsettled.
And there’s always a sense of is the sensation or emotion or weird feeling I’m having, experiencing really me? Or is it the brain disease doing something to cause it? You can’t isolate what its doing, what sensations its causing, you can’t examine it or check in on it casually.
So happy Emilia has made it through, had
great family and medical and therapeutic support. And it’s amazing she was dealing with all that while having such a huge career breakout moment.
North of Boston – what an articulate way to describe it. I hadn’t thought of it that way but “call is coming from inside the house” is so resonant. I wish all the best for your friend!!
She’s so sweet and lovely, a real ray of sunshine.
Her foundation is doing great things for both patients and their families.
She and her mum became MBEs in February (and of course prince William hasn’t missed an opportunity to make posts and videos about it to show he’s close to celebrities)
“One of the biggest things I felt with a brain injury was profoundly alone”
This is so sad and it’s even more so if I think that she was just twenty years old
Isabella Strahan is fighting a very scary battle with a brain tumor. And she’s about 19. Hellish. So sorry for her and her family.
What a lovely, brave girl she is. That smile! The organization sounds so well thought out. A big plus – The Big Issue is a paper written and distributed by homeless people. How wonderful that she gave them her most intimate interview. Empathetic.
Wow. You never know what people are really going through. Glad she recovered–and is doing something positive with her fame.